ALI Benarbia disobeyed orders to conjure up Manchester Cityés derby equaliser ... and then gave his gaffer an ear-bashing for not giving him long enough on the pitch!

The magical little Algerian had been told to hoist a Blues free-kick into the crowded penalty area with time running out and the Blues losing 1-0. Instead he caught United unawares by squaring it to Shaun Wright-Phillips, whose chip set up Shaun Goater for a dramatic 86th-minute equaliser.

And Kevin Keegan could not hide his delight that Benarbia had turned a deaf ear to the instructions doled out by his assistant Derek Fazackerley, saying: éThe last thing Faz said to Ali before he went on é we made the substitutions when the free-kick was awarded é was to make sure he didnét play it short, to get it into the box.

éOf course, he played it short to Shaun. The ball Shaun crossed was very difficult to defend against, and Goater got on the end of it.

éBut when you put Ali on a football pitch you donét tell him what to do. He sees pictures other players arenét even looking at é he is watching a different film, if you like.é

But Benarbia, despite his telling role, was still not entirely content, feeling he wasnét given enough time to make an impression when he replaced cramp victim Eyal Berkovic with four minutes on the clock.

He bent Keeganés ear at the end, the manager saying: éAli wasnét very happy that I only gave him a few minutes but Eyal was doing very, very well until he got cramp.

éHe told me I put him on for too short a time, and I told him that when you are a manager you donét always realise how long is left, there is so much going on in your head.

éHe said eight minutes was too short and from what he did from the free-kick when he came on, heés probably right.é

Keegan gave a wry smile when reminded that it was his three substitutes who combined for the goal and said: éIf Arsene Wenger or Alex do that ités tactical genius. With me, ités just luck, I admit it!

éYou just hope that your subs can go on and do well. I said to the three of them éGo on and make a goalé and they did.

éIt can be a gamble putting two subs on at once like that because a player needs 10 or 11 minutes, but it can also unsettle the other side because suddenly the shirt number you are supposed to be marking isnét there any more.

éI hate other managers putting three subs on because on the one hand it smacks a bit of panic but on the other you wonder why he is doing it.é

But Keegan was more than satisfied with his players, saying: éWe had to work hard and hang in there at times but I can honestly say that, although we certainly didnét have it all our own way in the first half, as the game went on we had the momentum, and looked like a team that could go on and win the game.